


Infinite

by SmidgenMidgen



Series: Marauding Menace [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A Bit Cliche, Coming of Age, F/M, Fifth Year, Marauders, Marauders' Era, REALLY slow, Sirius/OC - Freeform, jily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-23 10:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13785594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmidgenMidgen/pseuds/SmidgenMidgen
Summary: And in that moment / I swear we were infiniteAmy Moore's fifth year is sure to be a dramatic one, but she certainly did not expect it to be a bloody soap opera.Marauders' Era / Jily / SiriusOC / RemusMary





	1. The Return to Hogwarts

**Author's Note:**

> General Disclaimer: All characters, places and dialogues you might recognise belongs to JK Rowling. I only own the plot and the OCs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy Moore returns to Hogwarts for her fifth year, catches up with her friends, and settles into her school routine.

“Lily! Marlene!” My floppy hat nearly fell off as I waved frantically to my friends. We’d finally made it past Muggle London’s traffic, Mum and Andrew’s constant bickering about his too-long hair and Dad’s neurotic worrying and arrived at Platform 9 ¾ with half an hour to spare. What a miracle.

Abandoning my trolley to my parents, I bounded over to my best friends, hugging each of them in turn before sharing a big group cuddle with them, squealing and exclaiming, “I missed you, so much! How did the summer treat you? Where’s Mary?” I was jabbering away at full-speed, quite a rarity for me, since I had always been the quiet one of the group.

“Missed you too, Amy!” Lily exclaimed, happily, as she enveloped me in a one-armed hug while trying to keep her owl’s cage steady — she was kicking up quite the racket. “Summer was _absolutely amazing_ ,” she continued. Something about her tone told me that it was the exact opposite. “Just wait until you hear about all the wonderful things that Petunia did.” Oh, of course. Petunia. The worst type of sister anyone could ever have and nobody deserved — let alone Lily, who was kind and sweet and generally the best human being in the room.

“Ah, Lily, I’ll never know how you bear with her, truth be told.” Marlene shook her blonde hair out of her face, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “If it were me, I’d have hexed her into the next century ages ago, the Trace be damned.” With her alluring blue eyes, barely-there Scottish accent and outgoing personality, Marlene was easily the most popular of the group. With Mary by her side, she was known to kick up quite a hilarious racket of pranks and fun in the castle, which could rival even the Marauders’ legendary stunts. “Where’s Mary, anyway? She just might miss the train if she doesn’t hurry up.”

I excused myself, seeing that my Mum was waving me over. I’d left them with my trunk and owl without so much as a ‘Be back soon!’ and she was bound to be a tad annoyed with me.

“Sorry!” I exclaimed, hugging my Dad as he cuddled me tightly. “It’s just that we couldn’t exchange a lot of letters this summer and — “

“Oh, we understand, Amelia,” my mother smiled and I smiled back tersely. I hated being called by my full name, but Mum always insisted on doing it — maybe because I got so annoyed by that practice. I’d learnt to reign my temper in, though. At least, I hoped so. “Now, take your trolley and here’s Irene —” who was my cat, “— Are you sure you have everything? Good.” Mum smiled, softening the hard lines of her face. She always had a poker face, my Mum, but it always transformed into a smile around family. “Make sure you have a good year, darling. It’s your OWL year, so make the most of it while you can. You’re a brilliant young woman, and I’m sure you’ll do well. And don’t forget to have fun alright?” With that, she hugged me tight and I smiled into her shoulder. Mum was always the best.

After saying my final goodbyes, listening to my Dad’s lighthearted words of encouragement and having a few words with Andrew (who’d head off to the seventh year Ravenclaw boys’ carriage when the train took off), I bounded over to my friends — who had now been joined by Mary Macdonald. After a few minutes of chatter, we decided that loading our trunks onto the train and grabbing a carriage would be the best course of action. After all, it was five minutes to eleven and the last thing we wanted to do was miss the train. Gossip could wait until we were all settled into our comfortable seats on the Hogwarts Express.

* * *

 

“Lily! How did the Prefect meeting go?” I greeted her as she re-entered our carriage. Lily had been made the fifth-year Prefect this year, and no one begrudged her that position. After all, she was good at everything, while I was always stuck to my books and my perfect grades. Mum had been a little bit disappointed when I broke the news to her (she’d been Ravenclaw Prefect and Head Girl during her time) but she understood that Lily was much better suited for the position and I got more time to study this way.

“It was good, actually!” Lily manoeuvred past the growing pile of sweet wrappers on the floor and collapsed into the seat beside me. “Remus is the other Prefect from our year and I must say that I’m so relieved that they chose the most sensible bloke out of _that_ lot.” Mary, Marlene and I exchanged amused looks at that declaration.

‘That lot’ referred to the Marauders — as the fifth-year Gryffindor boys were so popularly referred to. Lily had a long-standing grudge against them, while the rest of us tolerated their antics. Although, Lily’s grudge might’ve been due to the fact that James Potter, a Marauder and quite brilliant at Transfiguration, had the biggest crush on her and was _not_ subtle about it. He’d been after her relentlessly since the beginning of our fourth year, despite Lily’s clear indifference and disdain towards him. It didn’t help that James bullied Severus Snape — who was Lily’s oldest friend ( _not_ her best friend, mind you. I refused to call him that. What should _I_ be called, then?). Honestly, I felt that the greasy git deserved all the hexes that were thrown his way, but I wasn’t going to tell that to Lily and upset her, was I?

“Well, that’s good then,” Mary said serenely, unwrapping another Chocolate Frog. “What about the other Houses’ Prefects?”

Lily tapped her finger to her chin, trying to remember. “Er, there was Bertram Aubrey and Vidya Patil from Ravenclaw; Caradoc Dearborn and Leda Minchum from Hufflepuff; Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black from Slytherin.” Her mouth twisted with disgust as she named the Slytherin Prefects. Figures. Malfoy and Black were apparently ‘betrothed’ or something and were the most snobbish, disgusting Slytherins of them all — and now they were Prefects and no one could stop them from abusing their power.*

“Of _course_ Sluggy would recommend those two — they’re his favourites, innit?” I shook my head. “Now no one’s stopping them from hexing people left and right and spouting their nonsense about Death Eaters and whatnot.”

The carriage grew quiet at the mention of Death Eaters. Recently, a wizard named Voldemort had been threatening the wizarding world, putting forth his ridiculous views of blood purity and dark magic. His followers were growing in number and called themselves ‘Death Eaters’. For people like Lily and I — Muggle-borns and half-bloods, this was a huge threat and hung over our world like a dark, gloomy cloud.

“Well,” Marlene said brightly, her brilliant smile dispelling some of the darkness. “I believe this year is going to be our best, girls. _Fifth-years!_ Wow, we _are_ growing old.” She stopped, pondering something for a moment. “Do you know that Dirk Cresswell smiled at me on the platform before you came along?” Besides being the most outgoing, Marlene was also the most boy-crazy, always trying to set the rest of us up with some cute boy or the other. Lily and Mary had succumbed to her scheming and gone on a few Hogsmeade dates the year before, (Mary had even dated one of those boys for a bit — George Trimble, was it?) but I’d always evaded her advances — considering that my first and only relationship had been disastrously awkward and childish.**

The conversation soon morphed into idle gossip about boys, Hogsmeade, school and various other things, as the train chugged steadily towards Hogwarts. I stayed quiet, stroking Irene’s silky black fur, but that was normal. I was the least talkative of the group, always preferring to immerse myself in a book or my homework than listen to uninteresting Hogwarts gossip. We’d all settled into our individual roles, and no one minded my silence — we knew each other well enough to know what we preferred.

* * *

 

It was during the Welcoming Feast that we spoke to the Gryffindor boys. We were generally on good terms with them (with the notable exception of Lily, of course) and I thought that they were quite amiable — once you learnt to ignore James and Sirius’ big egos and Peter’s obnoxious comments.

“Well, hello, Moore,” James greeted me, grinning as he took his seat across the table — right in front of Lily’s spot. She pointedly ignored his hopeful smile as he glanced at her. “Ready for another smashing season on the pitch?”

If there was one thing I was good at besides my studies, it was Quidditch. Dad had taught me how to play when I was very young and I’d quickly discovered that I played well as a Chaser or even a Seeker if the weather conditions weren’t too harsh.

James and I had been Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team for two years now. (Well, not quite the truth — I’d been a reserve Chaser in our third year, and a proper one in the fourth, while James had been the star Chaser for two years in a row.) I’d got to know him better during our training sessions and matches, sharing a friendly camaraderie with him. We were quite the pair when we played together, anticipating each other’s moves and thought process perfectly on the pitch and scored quite a lot of goals between us.

“You bet, Potter.” I smiled at him, glancing at the doors to see whether the first-years were coming in yet. Merlin, the Sorting seemed to go on forever, especially since we were all hungry and eager for the delicious feast to appear on the golden platters. “Who’s the Captain this year?”

“Theodore Vance,” he answered. Theodore was the seventh-year Seeker, and the brother of fifth-year Ravenclaw Emmeline, who was a genius at Arithmancy.

“Mm, good choice,” I mumbled, seeing that James was distracted by Lily. Merlin, the boy was head-over-heels for her, and she still had no idea. No, scratch that. She _did_ have an idea, but her stubborn pride refused to acknowledge it.

I turned to Marlene, sitting on my left and speculated about the severity of homework and classes this year. It was going to be a difficult year, I mused. After all, the OWLs decided our future. But the conversation soon petered out as Marlene focused on Sirius Black, sitting right in front of her. They were flirting blatantly — how long would it take before they got together? Two weeks? Five days? Maybe even lesser, seeing how things were going.

I remained quiet till the Sorting, the uncomfortably amused third-wheel between Lily and Marlene. I’m sure Remus felt the same since he was sitting between his two best friends and we exchanged half-amused, half-exasperated looks in a show of solidarity. It was fun to be the spectator, sometimes.

Thankfully, we were spared from more romantic displays by the doors bursting open as McGonagall strode in with a perfectly rigid posture, followed by tiny first-years. Half of them were tripping over their own robes or trying not to fall over like a pile of dominoes. Honestly, had we really been _that_ small?

My stomach grumbled through the Sorting Hat’s song (danger, stick together, house unity, blah blah) and the Sorting. When McGonagall finally reached the end of her list ( _“Zeller, Deirdre_ ”), I eagerly turned my eyes to Dumbledore, who was making his way to the podium adorned with a magnificent golden owl.***

The low sound of chatter died down as the Headmaster began, “ **Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: _Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!_ Thank you.** ” He smiled serenely as everyone laughed. “ **Now… Tuck in!** ”^

And with that, the magnificent feast appeared before our eyes, to our exclamations of satisfaction. Nothing much was said for a while as we all stuffed ourselves with the delicious food, but we all knew it — the term was already off to a good start and I, for one, couldn’t wait to see what it had in store for us.

* * *

 

However, the next morning, when the sun peeked through the windows, I wasn’t quite sure _why_ I had been so optimistic.

The usual morning chaos reigned supreme in the dormitory, fighting over trinkets and books and the order of using the bathroom. I somehow ended up being first and I smirked at the other three as I banged the door close on their glares.

 _“Lily!_ Stop trying to steal my Divination book — you don’t even _take_ the subject!”

“Has anyone seen my scales around here? I can’t seem to find them anywhere!”

“For heavens’ sake, Mary, how can you lose your _wand_? Honestly…”

“Oi! Just cast an _Accio,_ Amy, don’t go crawling all over the floor like an idiot for your bloody book!”

Needless to say, we weren’t at the best of terms with each other as we stormed out to the Great Hall, glares etched on our faces. However, with coffee (or tea, if you were Lily or Mary) in our systems, our good temper was soon restored and we compared our schedules as McGonagall handed them out.

“Hm, Double Potions before Break, Arithmancy, Defence, Lunch and Double Transfiguration. Not bad, but damn, Astronomy at twelve. And I thought I’d get some sleep today.” I shook my head with disappointment.

“Honestly, I don’t understand how you manage so many classes, Ames,” Lily said, poring over her own timetable. “I’m sure I’ll be struggling with the eight subjects I have, and here you are, topping the class in all eleven subjects you’ve chosen.” She scowled at me mockingly, and I playfully pushed her away.

Peeking into her timetable, I saw that she shared most of my classes today, with the exception of Arithmancy, which she didn’t take. Her only elective was Ancient Runes. “We have most of our classes together, Lils!” I offered her a side hug.

While I was fairly close to Marlene and Mary, Lily and I had always been as thick as thieves. I’d met her on the Hogwarts Express when we were first years. Snape had been with her and had eyed me with jealousy throughout the journey since I got along with Lily better than he did. She was my closest friend, the one with whom I shared all my secrets and most of my tête-à-têtes.  

Speak of the devil. Severus Snape had suddenly appeared at Lily’s side, his mouth soured with a scowl and his greasy hair falling into his eyes. James, who had just entered the hall with Remus and Sirius, said, “Well, well, is it just my imagination or is your hair greasier than ever, _Snivellus_?” I bit into a piece of omelette to keep myself from laughing.

Honestly, I had no idea why Lily was still friends with that bloke. He’d quite clearly shown his loyalty for the darker side of magic and disdain for non-purebloods (quite ironic, considering that he was a half-blood himself), but Lily blindly saw only what she wanted to see — the good in him. I was quite astonished that she could actually spot something other than jealousy and bitterness there.

Lily’s eyes flashed as she glanced at James, but she said nothing. Oh dear, James was _really_ not improving his chances with Lily by acting so juvenile and childish. I could understand the hostility he had towards Snape (I mean, come on, even the most oblivious person could tell that Snape was keen on Lily. More like obsessed with her) but he needed to learn better ways to deal with it. Perhaps I’d talk to him later.

Snape, however, had no qualms about retaliating. “Shut your bloody gob, _Potter,_ ” he sneered, his hand in his pocket — reaching for his wand, for sure. “You don’t want me to hex you into next week.”

“Ooh, feeling so _threatened,_ Snivellus.” Sirius’ smooth voice interrupted. He was leaning against the table, beside me, unnervingly close. “Listen to him, Jamie, shut your mouth.”

James snorted. “ _Right,_ ” he drawled. “So threatened. I’ll let you off this time, Snivellus, but if you say that again, I’ll give you a lovely little makeover, yeah?” He smiled sweetly and settled down, piling pancakes onto his plate.

“Severus, _don’t_.” Lily restrained Snape by holding his arm. Hatred was clearly written in her eyes as she glanced at the Marauders. “Come on, let’s go outside and talk.”

Throwing one last scowl at the Gryffindors, Snape and Lily walked off, towards the open Entrance Hall. Something told me that this whole drama involving Lily, Snape and James would have a big showdown this year and I, for one, did _not_ want to witness it.

* * *

 

The rest of the week turned out to be blissfully normal, with no pranks, duels or fights between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. (Because let’s face it, nowadays, it always seemed to be a quarrel between us and them.) Marlene was a little disappointed with the lack of gossip and action, perhaps, but soon got over it, because she had officially begun dating Sirius and they were ensconced in their own little cocoon of soppy romance and snogging the senses out of each other. They were conspicuously absent from the common rooms most evening, but the rest of us girls were too immersed in assignments and homework to actually giggle and speculate about it.

The next exciting event came in the form of Quidditch trials. The Gryffindor ones were to be held at the end of the week, and while Theodore had assured that James and I would retain our spots, we had to go down and watch the trials. Since we were the senior most members of the team besides Theo, we had to help him make decisions for the four remaining spots of the team.

The number of people signing up for the trials had increased greatly since this was the first time that so many spots had opened up in the team since three or four years. James and I immediately sent back two dozen first-years and second-years — no one was allowed to participate in a team till they reached third-year. As Theo let the Bludgers out and held trials for the Beaters, James and I sized up a few Chaser-hopefuls, strategizing about who’d be the best fit for our play. It was essential that the third Chaser’s play matched with ours, otherwise, it’d be a disaster.

Theo, having finished the Beater trials, called us up. Keepers were next — and how could you hold a quality Keeper trial without a couple of good Chasers?

I grinned as the wind rushed past me, tangling with the few errant hairs that had escaped my tight braid. There wasn’t quite a feeling in this world like flying — the absolute freedom and bliss that came along with it, the feeling that you could do anything.

Catching the Quaffle as Theo threw it up, I nodded at James, who was already positioning himself in a perfect way to receive it. We tossed the red ball back and forth, our movements perfectly synchronised. We were the perfect team, and with years of practice, we were almost telepathic when it came to our play.

The first few Keepers were miserable, barely blocking our fast shots. To be fair, they were all third or fourth years, so they must have been pretty inexperienced in the game. The next couple of players were quite good but mostly failed to predict our moves and manoeuvres. Agreeing that they needed more experience with the technical side of Quidditch, we finally moved to the last batch of Keepers, hoping that someone amongst them would match up to what we wanted in a Keeper.

And finally, we did find the perfect player in Lisa Hammond, a sixth-year with a hawk-like ability to spot out our strategies and impeccable judgement as to where the Quaffle would be placed. She’d do nicely as our Keeper, especially against strong teams like Slytherin’s.

Finally, the search began for the Chaser. James and I stood back for this, preferring to watch the game of different players and seeing if it would match our game. It wasn’t just enough if they could score the specified five goals against Lisa. It was crucial that we could train the Chaser to fit into our team, to ensure that we could score as many points as possible.

After much debate and a few minor scuffles with James, we finally decided on Hector Bole, a pimply little third year, with an excellent throwing arm who flew at amazing speeds. He had just the right kind of game: speedy, precise and powerful.

Theo declared the final team and two reserves, as we all clapped politely to welcome the new members of our team. It looked amazing, and I felt confident that, with the right amount of practice, we’d make it to the finals easily, if not win the tournament itself.^^


	2. Building Bridges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James asks Lily out in yet another show of disastrous dramatics and Amy takes it upon herself to hash out the differences between the two and try to make them understand each other better.

It was towards the latter end of the third week of September that James finally built his courage up to ask Lily out. Usually, he’d wait a little longer, but perhaps with his huge ego and the Marauders’ growing fan club (a gaggle of girls who admired the charming, chivalric, muscular gentlemen that constituted the group), he’d built up enough nerve to pose the question to my best friend.

Unfortunately, for James, he couldn’t have chosen a better time to ask Lily out. He approached her in the evening, as we girls scratched out our essays furiously on the parchment, throwing around a few theories and questions as we slowly worked our way through the difficult material. McGonagall was being particularly hard on us, what with an eighteen-inch essay (!) on the fundamentals of Vanishing and its theory.

Lily, in particular, was finding this aspect of the subject extremely difficult to understand. Although very brilliant, Lily confessed to having lots of trouble with theoretical or even practical Transfiguration. She claimed that her talent tended towards the more tangible ( _sensible,_ Lily always declared) science of potion-making, while the finer details of Transfiguration escaped her. So it was no surprise that she was frustrated about her confusion regarding Vanishing Spells. I’d offered to help her, but she’d waved me off. Lily was very stubborn when it came to such things — she claimed that she had to either understand the whole thing on her own or not at all.

It was around this time that James strolled across the common room towards us, whistling an annoyingly cheerful tune, with his hands in his pockets. He, of course, aced Transfiguration without even _trying._ I’d always envied his and Black’s remarkable ability to understand all their lessons with the least effort. But it did get rather annoying at times, the way they showed their talents. It made them rather condescending of others — even if they didn’t mean to behave that way. And that evening was a perfect example of _why_ it got on our nerves.

“Evans,” he said, leaning against Lily’s chair as he scanned her essay. She looked at him as if she couldn’t believe that he had the nerve to approach her and stand next to her so casually and scooted a little farther away from him. “Seems like you’re having a bit of trouble there, aren’t you?”

Whoops. There, he’d done it. If there was one thing that Lily hated the most, it was someone patronising her, telling her that she came up wanting indirectly. Perhaps James _was_ actually concerned about Lily’s frustration, but his cocky tone was easy to misinterpret.

I shook my head frantically at the boy, but he seemed oblivious to it. Goddammit, James, where did your telepathic abilities from the Quidditch pitch go? Don’t you understand that you’re ruining what little chance you have with her?

Lily stiffened and the three other girls at the table quickly looked away, not wanting to be a part of the impending telling-off that James was about to receive, a la Lily. I quickly turned to Mary’s essay, which I’d been proofreading and started explaining all the mistakes she’d made there in a quiet voice. I could hear Marlene’s quill scratching even louder than before and the Marauders groaning audibly as Lily’s stormy expression grew worse.

“For your information, _Potter,_ I’m doing quite well on my own, thank you _very much._ I was perfectly fine until you came along, with your arrogant assumptions and cocky smirk — honestly, do you think that you’re more appealing to me by patronising my work? Well, news flash, it doesn’t work that way. And before you even _deign_ to ask me — no, I won’t go to Hogsmeade with you. I’d rather lick sand than spend more time with you, personally. Now if we’re done here, can you please back off and allow us to complete our homework?” Smiling sweetly, she cast a Banishing Charm on poor, gobsmacked James and sat back down with triumphant grace.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. This was definitely getting much worse than I thought it would be. I needed to have a talk with both of them, telling Lily to open her eyes and see that James was not all that bad as she made him out to be, and advising James that _cocky and arrogant_ was not always the best approach, especially when it came to the girl of his dreams.

I inwardly groaned as I completed my essay with a flourish and rolled it up. Some things are easier said than done, after all.

* * *

 

That evening at the common room had been Lily’s worst rejection yet and it had taken quite a few days for James to recuperate and nurse his ego back to its original size. And that meant that James and his gang sat away from us in most classes and ate their meals with the two other fifth-years — Frank Longbottom and Thomas Ogden. I’d be lying if I said that I was disappointed by the turn of events. Without the boys hanging around every corner, I had a lot more peace and calm in my life, enabling me to catch up on my enormous to-do list quite easily.

However, that didn’t mean that I could ignore the whole Lily-James situation in its entirety, even if I wanted nothing more than to do just that.

I approached Lily first, figuring out that she’d be easier to tackle, considering that I knew how her mind worked and that she’d probably be more open to me since I was her best friend.

“Lils…” I began one evening, as we sat in the library, sketching outlines for the Ancient Runes assignment. It was Lily’s only elective and the only class she shared with me outside the core subjects.

She hummed, sticking her tongue out in concentration. In such moments, with the evening sun enhancing the fiery red of her hair and the emerald of her eyes, I understood why James was so hung up on my best friend, and why so many lads fancied her. I didn’t envy her for her beauty — I knew that I wasn’t very pretty and probably never would be. I did, however, enjoy appreciating my friend’s classic looks and effortless charm.

“About the whole James matter…” I trailed off as Lily glared at me accusingly.

“Not you too!” She complained, dropping her quill into the inkwell with unnecessary force. “Mary and Marlene have been jabbering away about it since it happened and I think I’ve had enough of that boy.” She huffed.

“Ah, but Mary and Marlene just wanted the gossip, while _I_ want to know your opinion on the whole bloody mess.” I reached across the table and squeezed her hand, smiling reassuringly. “You can tell me anything, you know. I’m your confidante, and all that.”

Smiling begrudgingly, Lily began. She talked about how she _had_ been attracted to James for a while now (ah, so I hadn’t been wrong on that count!) and that she might’ve considered going out with him if he hadn’t been such a git to Snape and acted so immature around her. She ranted about all the times James embarrassed himself (and her, by extension) by asking her out with ridiculously dramatic set-ups and flowery speeches. Then, she thoughtfully contemplated on all the times she’d spoken to him alone, to the authentic James that his friends got to see. He was sweet, she admitted, even if his cockiness and general aura of self-satisfaction did not disappear.

“I just don’t _understand,_ though. Why does he need to be so blatantly ridiculous about the whole thing while he can be perfectly nice and sweet? Why does he need to target Sev like nobody’s business when he _knows_ that it’s wrong?” She sighed. “I just don’t know what to think anymore, Ames.”

I thought about the situation — Lily did like James, very much. She only didn’t like the more arrogant, bullying parts of him. And unfortunately, he’d let those parts show more than the good ones. I did agree that James needed to tone down his infatuation and his methods a bit, but I was not quite sure on the Snape part. The Marauders and all the girls except Lily had seen Snape at his worst — and very often, at that. I wasn’t quite sure that Lily would still be supporting him if that side of him was exposed to her.

But, to summarise: Lily fancied James, but would like to see him grow up a bit before thinking of a relationship. She thought that James needed to tone down his, _er,_ displays of affection and back off on the Snape matter. (I completely disagreed on the last point but I digress.)

However, James wasn’t the only one to blame in this matter. I was pleased that Lily didn’t think of James as just an arrogant berk with no good qualities, as I’d originally assumed, but she still needed to let go of her prejudice completely and at least _try_ to be civil to James. After all, the boy was exuberant. It was part of his character. And Lily needed to accept that.

So here’s what I told Lily. “I get your point on James being arrogant and cocky and embarrassingly extravagant. His displays are definitely too over-the-top and humiliating for both of you. However, Lils, you must understand that invariably, it’s a part of his character, something you can’t get rid of. He might tone down a bit if you ask him to, but essentially, he’ll remain the same — a bit too over-the-top, loveable, quite the puppy, really. His arrogance stems from pride in himself, his house and his achievements — I think you’ve just deluded yourself into believing that there’s only bad when you look at James Potter. Lily, you’ve been training your mind to see the worst parts of him for so long that you forget that there are a million more amazing things that make James a wonderful person.” _Just like you’ve been training your mind to see the non-existent good in Snape. You can be astonishingly single-minded when you want to be, Lils._

“As for Snape, well…” I pursed my lips, wondering whether she’d believe me when I exposed his true colours. She probably would, but would also be cut up about it, so I didn’t elaborate on my poor opinion of the greasy wanker. “I won’t say that James was wrong on that count, but he can definitely handle it better.” I ignored Lily’s glare and continued, “But here’s the catch — yelling at him and demeaning him won’t do any good, Lily. If you want him to change, you’ve got to sit him down, have a nice chat without raising your voice above normal and telling him that you would love to go out with him, if only he improved just a little. It’s not as intimidating as it seems, I promise.” I smiled at her.

“Easy for you to say,” she mumbled, absently pulling at her braid. “But yes, you’re right, as always.” She sighed deeply. “We’ve been acting like such kids for so long and in you come, with your brilliance and your wise words that can’t be argued with. Stop being so _perfect,_ Amy Moore.”

I stuck my tongue out at Lily and she laughed. I hoped that what I’d said had made an impact on her. After all, Lily and James would make the perfect couple and I would hate to see them drift away on some petty, childish issues.

* * *

 

The Lily-James issue took the back burner in my mind as September morphed into October and my pile of homework became even larger. I still hadn’t talked to James but I’d already noticed a civility between the two of them that wasn’t there before — perhaps Remus, or even Sirius, had beaten me to it and hammered some sense into the boy’s head.

October also brought with the first Quidditch match with it, which was, as always, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. We practised hard and fast, whenever we could find the time and the Quidditch pitch was free. You might’ve thought that I’d talk to James there, but Theo had a strict no-gossip-or-social-life-talks rule on the pitch and it wasn’t like we’d break it anyway, seeing that the two of us were furiously planning out strategies to flatten the Slytherin defence on Saturday.

When the day finally arrived, I felt like I might throw up. I was pale and gaunt, my serious game face firmly in place. Lily, Mary and Marlene provided me with an encouraging pep talk while I got ready. They were the best friends I could’ve asked for — sweet, supportive and encouraging. Mary tried to boost my morale by spewing poison on the Slytherin team as she deftly braided my hair into an intricate but effective hairstyle.

I really did appreciate their efforts and had almost returned to normal when I reached the Great Hall. But, as soon as I saw the green and silver Quidditch uniforms littering the Slytherin table, I clammed up again. My stomach revolted at the sight of the delicious breakfast fare set out in front of me. Oh gosh. I hoped that I didn’t melt into a puddle of panic before the game ended.

James offered me a tight smile as I slid into the seat beside him. He was picking at his barely-filled plate, about as interested in eating as I was. Pre-match jitters were always the worst.

“C’mon now, Jamie, you’ve got to eat something, unless you want to faint on your broom,” Sirius coaxed James, sliding a plate of pancakes towards the latter boy. Seeing me settle into the seat beside his best friend, he offered me a polite smile. “Moore,” he said. “Have a good game today.”

I smiled back or at least tried to. I think it came out as a grimace. “Thanks.”

Unlike James or Remus, I wasn’t close to Black, mainly due to the fact that we had almost nothing in common and Sirius had never bothered to strike up a conversation with me. I had always been the introverted, shy one among the Gryffindor fifth-years and Sirius preferred to speak to livelier, more outgoing people. I didn’t mind that — I’d always thought that Sirius was too haughty and snobbish sometimes and I felt that I wasn’t losing anything by not being his friend. Though, he did seem to be becoming a little more approachable as he grew older and much less disdainful of what he considered to be lesser than him.

Lily soon joined Black in persuading James and me to eat something. (Well, she mostly talked to me but stayed civil with James. She even wished him good luck and James looked awestruck like Christmas had come early.) Finally, I managed to nibble on a few pieces of toast smeared with raspberry jam and gulped down a bit of coffee. I just hoped that I could keep it down.

Theo approached us a few minutes later, the four other team members trailing behind him. As we got up from our seats and joined them, Gryffindor erupted into a roar, cheering and clapping for us. I grinned despite my nerves and gave a thumbs-up to my house table. Gryffindors stuck together — one thing I’d learnt from being a member of the house for so long. James, of course, had a more energetic response to the encouraging cheers. Pumping his fist in the air, he joined the cheers, bowing with a flourish when the ruckus finally died down.

I caught Lily’s eyes and grinned, pleasantly surprised that she was smiling and laughing along with everyone else. Perhaps she had considered my words and taken it to heart. Well, that lessened my job in the matter significantly and I couldn’t be happier.

* * *

 

“Ready?” I asked James as he fidgeted with his gloves. He glanced at me, hazel eyes lit up behind his glasses as if a live wire was passing through them.

“Yeah,” he grinned. Theo had just finished with his pep-talk and we were getting ready to fly out into the pitch. I beckoned Hector over. The poor lad looked like he was about to fall over, he was so anxious.

“Okay?” I questioned, and he nodded and gulped. “Remember, we have the best team out there and we _will_ win this thing, as long as we stick to the plan, alright?” He nodded again and I turned to James. He went over all our formations and strategies again, stressing on the important points for Hector’s benefit. Finally, Madam Hooch’s shrill whistle rang out in the changing rooms and I took a deep breath as we made our way to the pitch.

The Slytherin team looked like a formidable lot, all of them tall and muscular and somewhat troll-like. There weren’t any girls on the team, of course, since respectable pureblood girls apparently never played rough games like Quidditch. The captain of the team was a tall, dark-haired boy named Avery. He was deathly pale, and his smirk seemed to be like the ones you see on a skeleton as he shook Theo’s hand. By the looks of it, both of them were trying to crush the other’s hand, hatred shining in their eyes.

The Slytherin versus Gryffindor games were almost always tense and exciting since we were sworn rivals and Slytherin, in particular, tended to resort to illegal moves to win. However, this game seemed much more fraught with tension than before, and it probably wasn’t helped by the fact that Slytherin’s Seeker was Regulus Black, Sirius’ younger brother. James and Sirius had a long-standing grudge against him and duelled with him whenever they got a chance. I’m sure that James felt even more driven to win the game, to gain a one-up on the fourth-year Black.

Finally, Hooch blew the whistle and the Quaffle ricocheted into the cornflower blue sky. James, swift as ever, caught it before Malfoy even had the chance to reach out for it. I sped towards the Slytherin side, dodging the Bludgers and the Chasers hot on my heels. James passed the ball to me and I accelerated, seeing the hoops closing in. I could see Hector positioning himself to receive the ball after the goal was scored. The perfect opportunity. I raised my arm and sent the Quaffle flying, straight through the middle hoop. I grinned as the crowd roared. We’d just scored the first goal.

We continued in this manner, speeding across the pitch on our Nimbus brooms (Hector had the 1700, while James and I had the 1800) and performing various plays and formations to trick the Slytherin Chasers and Beaters. On one particularly daring Llewellyn Manoeuvre, I almost slipped off my broom, but I quickly recovered, throwing the Quaffle up to Hector and speeding away to distract the Slytherin Chaser.

When the game finally ended with Theo catching the Snitch in an amazing display of his Quidditch skills, James and I had score twelve goals each, with Hector scoring an impressive total of eight goals himself. With the Snitch’s additional one hundred and fifty points, we’d won the game, 470 – 290. We hadn’t just defeated Slytherin, we’d buried them.

* * *

 

We were greeted in the common room with roars of appreciation and pats on the back. I blushed so much that I feared that my cheeks would permanently feature a pink tinge. I wasn’t used to all the attention that came with being a Chaser on the Quidditch team.

The celebratory party was in full swing when James and I finally got away from the well-wishers and the never-ending discussions on the game. He stretched, sighing deeply. _“Finally_ ,” he exclaimed. “I thought that they’d never let us go!”

“You’re telling me,” I snorted, as I collapsed into a comfortable armchair. My muscles were aching since I hadn’t got a moment’s rest since waking up that morning and all I wanted to do was to curl up into a ball and sleep. “There was this one guy — McLaggen, I think, trying to chat me up and I felt so uncomfortable.” I shuddered. McLaggen was a sixth-year Gryffindor who was primarily known for being too cocky and a creep.

“Ugh, that git,” James spat. “If he tries to approach you again, tell me and I’ll make good on that promise that I made last year.” I raised an eyebrow questioningly and James continued, “He used to bother Lily the same way and didn’t seem to take the hint that she was not interested. So I threatened him and I told him that if he attempted anything like that again, I’d curse him into next year. Seems like he didn’t get the hint.” I smiled. Of course, James would always know when Lily was being harassed or threatened. His complete devotion to her was really endearing.

“Lily thinks you’re alright now. Not so much of an arrogant berk,” I said, casually, watching the remains of my Butterbeer swirling around at the bottom of the glass.

James sat up, an eager look in his eyes. Taking the hint, I rolled my eyes and began, “Lily’s a stubborn girl, James. She’s latching on to her belief that you’re the one doing everything wrong in this — first impressions really matter to her, and let’s face it, yours wasn’t a very good one. Now that you’re showing your true character to her, she’s softening but she’s not willing to accept it. _You_ have to show her that you’re better than she ever imagined.”

I paused, biting my lip. “Also, this might seem a little too difficult for you to do but lay off a bit on the whole Snape matter. She needs to understand that her ‘Severus’ is not all that good as she makes him out to be, and him being the victim to your curses isn’t helping matters. Stop—“ I held up my hand, seeing that James was about to interrupt. “I know that he deserves all he gets and that your hexes and curses aren’t half as numerous or intense as the ones he sends towards his innocent victims. But Lily doesn’t know that, does she? She needs to know Snape, the real one. And I’m going to make sure that she does. Until then, James, restrain your hatred towards the greasy wanker. Although, I wouldn’t mind the occasional hex or jinx, would you? So long as it’s inconspicuous.” I winked at James and he grinned.

“Good talk, James.” I hugged him with one arm, ducked his hand as he tried to ruffle my hair and disappeared into the crowd, leaving James with his thoughts.

My job was done. Now it was all up to James and Lily — and I wondered whether they’d cross the bridge I’d built for them and extend a hand of friendship or burn it altogether.


	3. Communication Is Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy realises that being alone is not always the best strategy, the girls have a nice chat and Sirius comes to Amy for advice. A birthday, and more conversations and strange feelings ensue.

The weeks seemed to fly by after the first Quidditch match, a blur of homework and demanding classes. We definitely felt the full impact of OWL year as the classes became more intense and difficult. I barely managed to keep myself above waters in terms of my schoolwork and for the first time, I was beginning to wonder whether I’d bitten off more than I could chew.

I had chosen to study every subject except Divination and Ancient Runes, meaning that I had ten different classes to deal with. In my third and fourth years, it was rather easy to manage everything and I’d even managed to keep aside some free time for myself every evening. But now, free time was a luxury I couldn’t afford, what with five or so essays to complete every week, studying as thoroughly as possible and Quidditch practices three times a week.

Due to my hectic schedule, I became something of a recluse, barely talking with my friends, unless we were studying together (and if I did chat then, I’d be clearing doubts and debating concepts). Most of the times, our conversations were limited to, “Pass that jam, will you?” or “Do you still have my copy of _1000 Magical Plants and Fungi?_ ” or “Pardon me!”

I certainly felt very lonely, when I came back to the dorm and found that everyone else was asleep or when I spotted them laughing together in the common room as I rushed to the library. I knew that our friendship wasn’t broken or anything — we’d been through far more trying ordeals than this and had emerged unscathed. But I did long for their company and that surprised me.

During my first couple of years at Hogwarts, I had been the epitome of a bookworm — shy, introverted, stuck to my book and with a geeky pair of glasses, to top it all off. I’d barely spoken to anyone except Lily, who, as I’d said before, had quickly become my best friend on the Hogwarts Express. (She always seemed to chatter with the quieter people in the school, even if she was as charismatic as Marlene or Mary — they got along together like a cauldron on fire but she said that her effervescence was complemented by my calmness and that’s why she loved being with me.) My social skills had been abysmal and I hadn’t known the meaning of ‘small talk’. Naturally, I’d been pretty much ignored in any setting other than the classroom.

And to make up for that deficiency, I’d worked hard to stay on top of the class rankings. I threw myself into my studies until I was proficient in most of it. I had the top spot in most of the classes, save Potions where Lily and Snape took the honours and Arithmancy, where I was ranked second behind Emmeline Vance. Still, I thought of my perfect academics as my saving grace and was rather proud of my achievements.

However, that did not improve my social standings in any way. That hurt me, to be honest. While Mary, Marlene and Lily were effortlessly popular, I was stuck in the background and nobody cared for the smart but introverted Amy Moore. My first and second years were the quietest of my schooling, and also some of the darkest days of my life.

As third year came around the corner, everything changed. Summoning all my courage, I tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I was so pleased and surprised when Lloyd Johnson, the Captain told me that I had huge potential and accepted me as a reserve Chaser. When that happened, it was like someone opened a whole new door of opportunity for me. James Potter began to speak to me in a friendly, genuine way (I was very surprised to discover that he was quite pleasant and adorable when you spoke to him one-on-one, to be honest.) and Remus, who was my Potions partner that year also became one of my friends. Marlene and Mary seemed to gain a new respect for me due to my Reserve Chaser position and strove to include Lily and me in their endless antics. (We were reluctant for the most part and often passed on their rather wilder expeditions.) Soon, we melded into one unit of friendship and didn’t look back since. Overall, I came out of my shell quite a bit and could hold a good conversation with any of the people I knew well. I was still shy and hopeless at small talk, often failing at conversing with strangers or acquaintances, but I knew that I had the love and friendship of the people closest to me and that was enough.

It did seem that I was falling back on my old, unhealthy ways of keeping to myself all the time. I did feel the negative effects of it, but there wasn’t much I could do, being so busy all the time.

It was Marlene who finally approached me on the issue. Slumping into a chair beside mine as I researched the properties of the Wolfsbane Potion, she began in an exaggeratedly cheerful tone, “Oh hello, stranger, didn’t see you there! I’m Marlene McKinnon. And you are?” She raised one accusing eyebrow at me and I smiled guiltily.

“Hello, Marls. And sorry, for… you know, being so distant. It’s just—” I gestured to the tottering pile of books and parchment on the table, hoping that she’d understand what I was trying to say.

“Oh I know, Amy. You’re a genius who takes too much upon herself and shuts herself up until she achieves perfection.” She smiled. “I only wanted to remind you that we missed you, y’know. Mary and I are flailing without your brilliant advice, and I think Lily’s at a loose end. She’s still as talkative as ever, but somewhat closed off.” Marlene’s forehead creased. “I don’t think that makes sense, though.”

“No, that makes complete sense.” I, of all people, knew Lily’s peculiar ability to be friendly and charming, but still, give off the air of being somewhere else. “You know what, I’m done for the evening. I’m halfway through this thing and even if I’m late for submitting it, I’m sure Slughorn will let me off. After all, I haven’t submitted any assignment later than it’s due, before.” I slammed my potions book close and gathered my things. “I’ll go and talk to Lils now. And perhaps we can have a good old girls’ night after dinner?” I hugged Marlene as she nodded and squealed her approval of the idea, and raced up the girls’ staircase.

A well-deserved break was in order.

* * *

 

Unfortunately for me, Lily was nowhere to be found. I was disappointed but I kept my hopes up that she’d appear in time for dinner.

I spotted her brilliant red hair on the staircase as I made my way to dinner and I smiled. “Lily!” I called out.

She turned around with a curious look but that soon morphed into a flat expression as she saw that I was the one calling her. “Oh. Hi.”

I groaned inwardly. _Oh no…_ She was annoyed with me. “I guess I owe you an apology?” I tried to convince her by wearing my best puppy-dog look.

However, it seemed that I’d caught her at the wrong moment, as she simply turned away without a word and continued to climb down at a steady pace. Cursing under my breath, I hurried after her clumsily, praying that I didn’t fall over and tumble down the marble steps — I had never been a particularly graceful person.

“Lils, _Lily._ ” Catching her by the elbow to stop her, I continued, “I’m sorry, alright? I know that I haven’t been the best of friends lately. But you must understand that I’m barely keeping myself afloat — what with ten classes to deal with and…” I trail off as Lily’s eyes flash.

“That’s _exactly_ the problem, Amy!” I flinched, hearing the reproach in her voice. “Why do you work yourself so hard? Even Remus has the same amount of work as you do, but I don’t see him always buried in his books and dying slowly by distancing himself like you are! You’re stressed and lonely — don’t try to deny it and you’re just putting yourself in a darker place by insisting on being a loner! I’m so tired of seeing you do this every year.” Lily sighed. “Don’t you understand that we need you, as much as we need anyone else? You may think you’re the quiet one who’s always ignored, Ames, but without you, we’d be nowhere. I hope you understand that.”

I nodded mutely, not wanting to say anything that might incite Lily’s rage again. Lily was so enigmatic — compassionate, yet fierce; calm, yet turbulent when the situation called for it. And this mysterious way her mind worked sometimes made me wary of her.

But right now, I knew exactly what to do. Wrapping my arms around her, I said, “I’m really sorry, you know. I just… can’t help it sometimes. I’ll try harder, I promise.” I smiled at her and she hesitantly reciprocated it. “Now, can we go down to the Great Hall? Gosh, I’m starving!”

* * *

 

“So, what’s up with you and Sirius, huh?” Mary’s mischievous voice pierced through the quiet of the dorm as we all settled down for a nice chat that night. As I’d suggested, we’d dumped all our other responsibilities and turned into bed early to catch up. Lily had even abandoned her Prefect duties for this.

Marlene’s cheeks turned a glowing pink that was visible even in the dim firelight. “Nothing, really. We started speaking for a bit in one of the Selwyn family’s soirees — we were both utterly bored and our snobbish parents weren’t making it any better. And then I discovered that he was a much better person than I ever thought he’d be and flirted a bit after school started and well… here we are.” She shrugged as if it were no big deal but we all shot her looks which told her that we’d squeeze out as much information as possible from her.

“You don’t think you’re getting off that easily, are you?” Lily questioned, her eyes alive with curiosity. “C’mon, then, spill the tea!”

We spent the next half-hour dissecting their relationship into tiny, microscopic pieces. Finally, we deemed them worthy to be together. They were a well-matched pair: both of them good-looking, charismatic and the life of every party they attended. Perhaps they’d get into some fights because of Sirius’ cool arrogance and Marlene’s stubbornness but hopefully, they’d make it through.

“I don’t know, really.” Marlene shrugged, looking a little pensive as the conversation lulled. She looked unsure as to whether she should say what was going through her mind. “I mean, Sirius is so close to his friends — he’s inseparable from them. Most of the time I spend with him is also the time I spend with the rest of the lot unless we’re sneaking away. I don’t know whether I can bear that for too long. A girl has an ego to maintain, y’know and being second to your boyfriend’s best friends does _not_ help it.”

I was surprised that Marlene hadn’t told this to us early on in the conversation. Perhaps she knew that we’d immediately deem him unworthy of her because, honestly, what kind of boyfriend prefers his friends over a gorgeous and wonderful girl like Marlene? She’d told us the positives of their relationship first and then slowly unearthed the big minus mark of being with Black. That could only mean one thing — Marlene desperately wanted us to have a good opinion of Sirius Black and wanted this relationship to work out.

 _Interesting…_ I thought. Marlene seemed smitten by Sirius. I only hoped that he wouldn’t break her heart.

Lily seemed to be having similar thoughts. “It’s alright, Marls, he’ll come to his senses soon. Remember, he hasn’t really been in a proper relationship at all. He’s bound to be a little immature and ignorant.” She pursed her lips and I wondered if she was thinking of another black-haired Marauder that got on her nerves all the time. “He’ll come around. And if he doesn’t _talk_ to him. Communication always helps.” Smiling kindly, she rubbed Marlene’s shoulder.

Marlene suddenly perked up with a beam on her face. “Yeah well, let’s not talk about that anymore! Everything will work out in the end anyway. What I _do_ want to talk about is _Mary._ ” Marlene’s blue eyes were almost wicked as she turned towards the said person.

“Me?” Mary said, surprised. She set aside her box of Honeydukes chocolates and said, “What about me?”

“More like what about you and Remus.” Marlene raised a questioning eyebrow and Mary blushed. She had been nursing a long-standing crush on the sandy-haired, quiet Marauder for a long time. Like all other matters regarding my friends, I’d not been observing much happening between the two (and I felt so guilty about it now), so I was curious to know what Marlene was talking about.

“What do you mean Remus and me? I mean… things are still the same, pretty much — except that he seems to be becoming more oblivious as the days go by.” Mary rolled her eyes and we chuckled, mostly out of exasperation. It was a long-standing joke in the group that the day Remus noticed that Mary (quite obviously) fancied him, was the day when miracles would happen. Mary had done everything except flat-out ask him out to indicate that she liked him but Remus was ignorant of it — stubbornly so, I sometimes thought.

“Well, the way you two seemed cosied up by the fire on Monday seemed to say otherwise,” Marlene countered, a crooked smile adorning her face. Mary turned an even deeper red, and Lily and I made noises of surprise and immediately bombarded her with questions.

“Look, it didn’t mean anything, alright?” Mary said, sounding a little exasperated. “He was helping me out with Herbology homework since I couldn’t seem to find Amy around, and we just talked for a little while. _That’s all,_ ” she stressed, though she sounded a little bit disappointed by it. I felt a little guilty when she said that she couldn’t find me around but then congratulated myself because my quest for perfectionism brought Mary and Remus a little bit closer together.

“I sincerely doubt that Mary, but we’ll let it go,” Lily said. Suddenly, a calm silence enveloped the room but was broken as Marlene let out a long sigh. “Boys,” she said, shaking her head and Lily nodded. “Why do they have to take up so much of our days?” She seemed genuinely troubled by the idea and I felt amused — after all, it was Marlene who was the most boy-crazy one out of us four. “Mum said it’s because we’re growing up and I’m terrified of that idea.”

“I know,” I said, shuddering as I remembered the haunting images of Death Eaters that filled the papers. There were only a few years before we’d leave the safety of Hogwarts to face the dangers of the world outside. That thought scared me more than the thought of growing up, out of our childish antics and actions. “And every time I think of growing up, I think of the world outside. I think that perhaps, there may be a day when we come face to face with a — a _Death Eater_ and we won’t be the ones making it out alive.”

The others nodded, sombre and silent. For a while, the crackling fire was the only sound until Mary spoke up, “You know, Ma says that Dumbledore is organising a resistance of some sort. He’s been in London lately, it seems and he’s been meeting up with many Aurors. She says that she doesn’t think that it’s official or something like that, but there’s definitely something being planned.”

“But that’s good right?” Lily asked, slowly. “I mean, Dumbledore _is_ the most powerful wizard of all time. And everyone says that if there’s someone out there who can defeat Voldemort, it’s him. An organisation trained by him will certainly be useful for our world.”

“And if such a thing does happen, I’ll fight alongside them. I’ve had enough of this Death Eater business. I want to fight, for what’s good — for what’s _right_.” I added, quietly but fiercely. My mother had lost two of her brothers to the dark wizards and my Dad had almost been recruited by Voldemort’s followers. He’d refused and the Death Eaters had injured him so badly that, for a while, we weren’t sure whether he’d walk again or not. Perhaps we hadn’t lost as much to Voldemort as some other families, but our grievances convinced me to fight, to do _something_ to make our world peaceful again.

“Me too,” Marlene echoed. Lily and Mary said something similar, so Marlene added, “Let’s toast to that, shall we?” She produced a bottle of Butterbeer from her trunk as Lily conjured a few glasses.

“To fighting for what’s right and to being brave,” Marlene declared as we clinked our glasses. We’d not known then, how profound or serious that promise was, but it was one that we were determined to keep.

* * *

 

“Psst,” a voice said in my ear and I jumped. “Moore!”

I turned around to see who it was, carefully manoeuvring around my Fanged Geranium as I held it in place with a glove-clad hand. It was Sirius, with a panicked look on his face. He was Lily’s partner in this class but he never seemed to do much. He left most of the work to Lily’s capable hands — much to her annoyance and consternation.

I raised an eyebrow at him, trying not to jostle my plant with all the movement — Fanged Geraniums were especially vicious when provoked and I had no intention of making a visit to the hospital wing that day.

“Yes, Black?” I questioned, searching his face curiously. His eyebrows we knit together with uncharacteristic anxiety and his lips were pursed. Interesting. He seemed to be in a right state over something, I decided. Perhaps he had forgotten something important… Like a birthday?

And then it clicked, Marlene’s birthday was only a few days away — being the twenty-sixth of October. And as her boyfriend, he was duty bound to get her a gift, but had probably forgotten until this moment and was trying to pry out a good idea for a gift from one of her friends (who was also the least prone to gossip). I almost snorted. _Smooth move, Sirius Black._

I almost interrupted him as he opened his mouth to speak, but reconsidered. Let him confess his mistake himself. I’d rather enjoy seeing the high-and-mighty Sirius Black being reduced to a mere mortal by his faux pas.

“Um, you see, Marlene’s birthday is only a few days away — you know that. And, well…” He trailed off, seemingly strengthening his resolve to admit his mistake in front of a stranger. “I forgot about it and I have no idea about what I should get her. And I was wondering whether you might help me?”

He pulled off a remarkably convincing and realistic puppy-eyes look, I noticed. Stealing a quick glance around the greenhouse, I surreptitiously checked whether anyone was listening to our conversation.

Lily was the only one watching the two of us with curious eyes. Marlene and Mary were too engrossed in collecting their Fanged Geranium petals to notice and poor James and Peter seemed to be fending off a particularly vicious attack from the plant. Remus, my partner, seemed wholly unaffected and even a little amused.

Lily’s curiosity was something I could deal with. Seeing that it was safe for me to give my suggestions without giving everything away, I whispered, “Marlene loves her candies. You could always get her something from Honeydukes — she especially loves those limited edition packs of Bertie Botts’ with only the decent flavours. Or, if you want to do something a little more personal, she loves little trinkets and such from Dervish and Banges. She has a charm bracelet, you know. Get her something pretty to add to it — something she can remember you by. So, you can get her candy and a charm — she’ll be ecstatic when she gets them.” All of this was murmured very rapidly, lest Marlene or someone else should catch wind of our conversation.

Sirius, however, seemed to have got it all correct. “Candy and a charm,” he muttered. Suddenly, grinning, he nodded his thanks to me. “Thanks, Moore. I knew that you’d know what to say.”

My curiosity, it seems, had a mind of its own. I blurted out, “And why is that, Black?”

“Well, you are very keen and intuitive in most things — Prongs always keeps telling us that without your insight, his strategies wouldn’t be half as good as they are now.” He shrugged. “I figured that it might extend to more mundane matters too and turns out that I’m right. But then again, when am I wrong?” He grinned cockily as I rolled my eyes and Remus, who was apparently eavesdropping, scoffed.

“Well, thanks, I guess.” I tried to quell the blush rising on my cheeks. I was never one to take compliments well. “Now will you allow me to work on this bloody plant in peace?” I asked, half-exasperated, half-amused by the conversation that had just taken place.

Raising his hands in surrender, Black returned to his and Lily’s plant, just as Professor Sprout rounded the corner. Lily, of course, was bursting with curiosity, but Black seemed to be locking his lips on the matter.

Naturally, with her curiosity still running rampant, Lily approached me as we left the Greenhouse. Linking her arm through mine, she started, “What was _that_ all about?”

A giggle burst from my lips and I said, “Oh, Lils — you’ll love this…”

* * *

 

Marlene’s birthday conveniently fell on the last Sunday of the month, making it easy for the boys to host a party for her. We woke her up early in the morning (“Oi! It’s too early for this!”) and she only brightened up when she saw the gifts heaped one on top of the other in front of her bed.

Lily had gifted her with the latest Muggle clothes and a pair of earrings, while I had given her a huge box of assorted sweets from Honeydukes. Mary’s gift was the best of them all — a small sack full of Zonko’s products, perfect for Marlene’s occasional pranks.

Sirius, it seemed, had taken my advice to heart and had given Marlene a small star charm that complemented her bracelet along with the Bertie Botts candy, all wrapped in pretty paper. Marlene seemed to be on cloud nine — her birthday had the perfect beginning, so far.

James added to the fanfare by starting a loud ‘Happy Birthday’ song chorus from most of the Gryffindors. The response was admirable — partly because Marlene was a popular figure in the Gryffindor house and partly because James’ enthusiastic appeal was almost irresistible.

The rest of the day was rather quiet. Marlene spent most of it with Sirius (who had apparently seen it fit to detach himself from his friends for her birthday. At least he had that much sense.) while Lily, Mary and I chatted, studied and rummaged through our wardrobes to find something perfect for everyone to wear that evening. Magic certainly came in handy in situations such as these. Thanks to Shrinking and Engorgement Charms, we could easily interchange clothes, altering it to fit our figures.

“I dunno, Lils, don’t you think it’s a bit too much?” Marlene questioned, biting her lip. She was wearing a pretty pastel-pink dress that belonged to Lily and fell a few inches past the middle of her thighs, paired with a set of white rounded heels and pin-straight hair. It looked wonderful on her and wasn’t a bit risqué or anything like that.

“Marlene, you look beautiful and it’s not at all ‘too much’. You know, I think you should keep this dress for yourself. After all, the colour looks much better with your hair than it does with mine,” Lily said, tapping her index finger to her chin. Mary and I seconded her opinion that Marlene was perfectly beautiful as she was now, and she finally gave in.

“Well, we better get going then,” I said, applying a final layer of the light pink lipstick I had on. My outfit was much less showy — black denim shorts with a cap sleeve blue shirt.

“Just a minute!” Lily yelled from the bathroom, where she was doing her make-up. Sometimes, living in a dorm with three other girls had its disadvantages — one of the primary problems being that we had to use the bathroom and mirror in turns rather than all at once.

Finally, we were ready to join the party which had already begun — we could hear the strains of music from the common room below.

Despite being only fifth-years, the Marauders ruled the roost in the party scene. It wasn’t very visible in fourth year, since we were too young to contemplate hosting large parties, but the girls had predicted that with James and Sirius’ outgoing personalities and the advantage of being a part of the senior student group would mean hosting the Quidditch, birthday and other parties that we usually held in the common room.

They were certainly right — James and Peter were in the centre of the common room, entertaining everyone with silly spells and clever pieces of wandwork while Sirius was handing out drinks and snacks, his bark-like laugh distinct, even from a distance.

 _He looks nice,_ I thought. He was dressed in a plain white shirt, jeans and a leather jacket, but somehow, his grace and elegance enhanced the outfit greatly. Suddenly, his eyes moved to the girls’ staircase and caught mine. I blushed and looked away. Why was I staring at him so much, anyway?

As always, I migrated away from the main crowd after speaking to my friends for a while and wishing Marlene a happy birthday once again. Spending too much time talking and socialising with a horde of people wasn’t really my forte, and I’d rather watch from the sidelines than be the life of the party.

Remus, it seemed, had similar ideas. He was sitting on a comfortable couch by the fireplace, watching his friends make fools of themselves with their antics.

“Hello,” I greeted him, smiling with genuine warmth. Remus lived in Appleby, the same wizarding community that I lived in. Although we hadn’t talked much in the first years of school, we’d soon become friends after I got over my shyness and often visited each other’s homes to exchange notes for holiday homework or just to have a chat.

“Hi, Amy,” he greeted. Remus had a pleasant sort of voice, one that could soothe a person in any situation. “How’s your week?”

I made a non-committal grunt. Lady-like, I know, but I didn’t know what else to say. “I only wish that I had a Time-Turner or something so that I could get enough time to finish all my assignments _and_ have some time off.” I leaned back on the plush sofa as Remus laughed.

“I certainly get you there. Although, you seemed to be working yourself twice as hard as the rest of us. Give it a rest, Amy — we know you’re brilliant, so why do you need to put in all that extra effort to prove it to us?” Remus’ voice was joking but I detected a hint of concern behind it.

“I’m not brilliant, not really.” I scoffed. “I only work hard to get those ‘E’s and ‘O’s. If I slacked off, like, say, James or someone, I wouldn’t be half as good.” It was the truth, though Remus seemed disbelieving of it.

There was silence, for a while, as we watched James step onto a table and start juggling half a dozen Butterbeer bottles. When he finished, he threw them to random people in the crowd, and the last one just _happened_ to be Lily. Surprisingly, she giggled as James bowed flamboyantly and stepped off the table.

I was smiling as I turned to Remus, about to say something about the shift in the dynamics of their relationship. Remus, however, looked deathly pale and gaunt. It was as though he was trying to hide his sickness to the world and only showed his pain when no one was looking. _Poor Remus…_

I did a quick mental calculation — the full moon was only five days away. That must mean that Remus must be really ill and in a lot of pain. I felt a sudden rush of admiration for the boy. He had such a big secret to hide and had to suffer all the pain that came with it, but at the end of the day, he never wavered from the calm, collected, kind boy we all knew.

“Is the furry little problem going to make an appearance soon?” I questioned in a low voice. When I’d found out about Remus being a werewolf over the summer, he’d also told me about James’ funny nickname for his condition. It was just like James — funny, yet thoughtful and clever.

He looked at me sharply but then relaxed. “Yes, in a few days. And before, you ask, I’ll be alright.” He smiled, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes.

I spent the rest of the party in silence, and I don’t think Remus minded. It seemed as though every word he said would exhaust him. I was left to my own thoughts — of the enigma that Lily and James were becoming, of Remus’ undeserved pain and of Marlene’s tumultuous relationship. And thoughts of one black-haired grey-eyed boy filled my mind too, as my eyes found him too often as the party progressed. I didn’t know what to think of it but I did know that I had to nip _this,_ whatever it was, in the bud, before it grew into something I would regret.


End file.
